Continuous railings and/or handrails that transition from sloping to horizontal and/or that follow angle changes between walls are desirable for appearance, safety, and/or regulatory compliance. Moreover, continuous railings or handrails are helpful for seniors or people with walking difficulties.
Railing portions bent at fixed angles are used in some cases to connect two straight railing portions. However, these types of railings are typically bent at one of a limited number of standard angles, and are therefore not suitable to connect two straight railing portions which are angled relative to each other at a non-standard angle or when angle and inclination changes occur simultaneously, as in cases of winding staircases and ramps.
In other instances, adjustable elbow joints are used to join two straight railing portions, but they create abrupt angle changes and typically feature exposed pivots, making them unsuitable and unattractive wherever a smooth transition or finished appearance is required.
A current method of providing continuous handrail surfaces in these instances consists in using custom-fabricated wooden bends or custom bent and welded metal joints. Unfortunately, both means are expensive and time-consuming and, in the case of the wooden railing, may not provide sufficient durability or vandal-resistance.
Therefore, there is a need for an improved connecting assembly for connecting angled tubular structures such as angled handrail sections.